Pune: Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said in an ongoing Parliament session that the ministry was exploring options to mutually terminate the contract with the existing contractor for the Pune-Satara highway . The stretch falls under the arterial Mumbai–Bengaluru National Highway (NH) 48. Gadkari was responding to an issue raised by Maval MP Shrirang Barne, who said the condition of the highway and its service roads through his constituency has worsened this year, as it is not maintained by either the contractor or National Highways Authority of India ( NHAI ).
Barne demanded that NHAI terminate the contract with the existing contractor. Responding to his query, Gadkari said, “It is true that the condition of the highway connecting Pune-Satara has worsened during this monsoon. The maintenance of this road is with Reliance Infra Limited (RIL); from the legal viewpoint as well, there have been many complaints regarding this route.
On many occasions, attempts were made to find a way out with our intervention, but it did not work.” He added that NHAI is exploring ways to terminate the contract and prepare a new DPR to solve this issue. “We are trying to resolve it with mutual understanding.
If we take action to terminate the contract and then the company approaches the court and gets a stay, there will be further problems,” said Gadkari. When contacted by TOI, a senior NHAI official confirmed that maintenance of the 140-km road — starting from Dehu Road in Pune up to Shendre village in Satara district — is with RIL. A stretch of 28-30km of this road passes through Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad cities.
The company is responsible for the road’s maintenance till 2034. He added that the matter has been under arbitration for a few months. A tribunal had passed an order in the company’s favour in March this year, after which NHAI had moved Delhi High Court; the latest order came on July 9, the official said.
HC has given strict directions to the company to carry out maintenance as per directions of NHAI, said the authority’s deputy manager Ankit Yadav. He said, “Pre-monsoon works were done here. The main concern is of service roads — we are working on draining water from these roads before fixing the potholes.
It is difficult as it has been continuously raining. It is a recurring problem as the natural drainage has been blocked by the private and commercial constructions.” Calls and emails by TOI to Reliance Infra for their version were unanswered till the time of going to the press.
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